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to learn your own strength
triplets at whateley. xan is here.
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Xan has not visited Florida before. Leo has, but Leo is notably not with him - he's at his dumb family thing. Which might be a blood sacrifice? It's not not a blood sacrifice. So he sent Xan on vacation, because otherwise he'd just be "hanging around Whateley like a sad puppy, waiting for [him] to come home". (This earned Leo a punch to the arm.)

Anyway, Xan hasn't been to Florida. Or, really, anywhere with a good stretch of beach. So he wants to go to the beach. Specifically, he wants to go to a nude beach. So he does. He brings with him one (1) towel, red; one (1) pair of sunglasses, black; no (0) sunscreen, because he's a fucking Exemplar.

It turns out nude beaches are, for the most part, kind of boring. The water is cool, but the sand is kind of inconvenient. Many of the beachgoers are old, which is just depressing. Few to none of them, even the young ones, are anywhere near as attractive as the people he sees around Whateley.

Well. Actually, there's a guy over there who's pretty good-looking. He meanders over and lays his towel down.

"Hey," he says, lying down on his back.

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The guy gives him a once-over from behind sunglasses. He is more dressed than Xan, which is to say he is wearing sunscreen and sunglasses with dark-red tinted lenses. He was on his stomach but rolls over to mimic Xan lying down on his back. The physique is good on both sides.

"Hello," he says with a smile. "Need help with the sunscreen?"

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Xan laughs. "Don't need any, but I wouldn't turn you down. You from around here?"

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"Yeah, I am native." He gives a not-bashful smile. "You wouldn't turn me down for what?"

He lowers his sunglasses. His eyes are green, with a golden sheen that is obviously not human in this light.

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"-hah, thought so." He lowers his own shades, revealing brilliant scarlet irises. "Nobody's skin is that smooth without genetic assistance. I haven't seen you around Whateley, where do you go to school?"

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He looks mildly confused, but still holding a flirty look. "Uh, thanks? And does it matter if I go to a public high school?" Maybe that was a subtle prod about his age. Then he realizes the eyes are too red. "Are those contact lenses?"

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"No more than yours are. ...oh, this is hilarious, did nobody give you Muties 101?" He bites his own lip, hard enough that a little pearl of blood runs down his chin. He catches it on the tip of one finger and draws a little rune in the air. The air pressure rises slightly around them, with no other obvious effect.

"Remember that time you had a high fever for a couple of weeks and then you woke up and your eyes had changed color?" He flicks his wrist, and his hand is wreathed in flame. "Surprise! You're a mutant. Powers beyond the mortal ken. Well, I mean, maybe your powers are within the mortal ken, I dunno what your ratings are."

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Slow blink.

He looks down at himself, and his physique.

"My eyes changed color? They always have been green." He finally says, sounding serious now.

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"They weren't always green like that," he says. "It's not just a trick of the light. Those are mutie eyes. And mutie skin, and probably a mutie cock. Maybe you didn't need the help, but I'd bet you weren't quite that big before. I wasn't." He shakes his hips.

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He gives Xan an appraising look. "Yeah, I noticed changes, but assumed it was just me not remembering things right. Does being a mutant give you the m-word privileges? Or that is later in the 101? Actually, let's dial back a bit. I am a mutant? Shouldn't my powers be more obvious than changing from my 9 to 10?" Pause. "What are other signs of being a mutant?"

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"Yeah, you get to say 'mutie'. 'Gene filth' is a little more taboo. Uh, other signs - if you're a low-level Exemplar probably your senses are noticeably sharper, you can read faster and remember better, probably you're doing better in your classes. If you're a high-level Exemplar then maybe you have bulletproof skin, but let's not test that just yet. Probably you'd've noticed if you were a high-level Exemplar. Uh - other mutations you might not have noticed... you could be a WIZ, you could have TK you haven't noticed, you could be a Paragon... hmmm."

He bites his lip again, harder. A runnel of blood flows down his chin into the sand, then peters out. He closes his left eye, dips his finger into the blood on his skin, and draws a hooklike rune on his eyelid. Then he opens his eye again.

"You've definitely got something besides the Exemplar bit," he says, squinting. "It's pretty strong, even. What is that..."

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"Cool. Uh... during the fever-week I had weird dreams and I might have made a pact with something? I haven't been on the way of any bullets, and maybe I will want to work my way up from way smaller stuff. WIZ is wizard? It looks very useful-" he shakes his head. "I haven't been back to school since I got better, but I might have something in that area... Like my shoulder angel got a megaphone. I literally helped an old lady cross the street the other day."

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"Huh. A pact? And super-morality? Maybe you're an Avatar..."

He shakes his head. "Anyway, you should drop out and move to New England. There's a school for mutants there. Whateley Academy. It's way better than wherever you are now. If you run away from home you get a scholarship, and if you don't hate your parents then they can pay your tuition. It's a win-win."

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"Huh..." This random mutant could probably be dangerous regardless of knowing more about him, "In the dreams I met this thing... and its sort had five-faces? And I picked one and the dreams stopped, but the megaphone angel started. And I am in the foster system, my current home is not bad, but it's not good enough that they pointed out my apparently changed eyes."

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"Five faces sounds sort of Hindu to me, but I think the Hindu gods mostly stick to empowering people who actually believe in them. You're a mystery, alright. Uh, my name's Xan. By the way. Just realized I never actually introduced myself."

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"Trevor, you still made quite an impression regardless," he offers a hand to shake, maybe a bit ironically. "And it didn't look Hindu, but I have never studied gods that much."

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Xan shakes his hand, not without irony of his own. "A pleasure. Did you still want to help with my sunblock?"

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"I guess if you don't mind if I rub my hands all over your body."

Parts of Trevor definitely don't mind.

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"Sure I don't. You're cute and we're under a notice-me-not bubble. Not that I'd actually care if we weren't."

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"I was going to suggest carrying you to a more private spot, but that is even better. Your blood magic is sure useful."

He puts a hand on Xan's chin, inspecting the bitten lip. Then the travels down to his nipple, belly button and his shaft. "Can you get blood pumping really strong, I bet?"

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His lip bears no evidence it was ever bitten, apart from the dried blood.

"Hmm. It's not really in my wheelhouse - I've mostly focused on using blood as a power source, not manipulating it. But..."

He touches one finger to the dried blood on his chin, and it comes away wet and red. Then he drags it over Trevor's shaft, pulling blood into it.

"It helps that you're willing," he clarifies. "Everybody's got a little magic resistance, and blood magic's particularly sensitive to that."

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"Ah," is all he says for a while, before shivering. "That is... something you learned at your school? I might just join up."

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"Not something you'd learn - blood magic isn't usually taught, it's something you do if you've got a talent for it. But you could learn some pretty fun things."

His eyes flash, and he drags another finger along Trevor's side, trailing an almost-but-not-quite painful line of electricity.

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"Wow. I guess I shouldn't be surprised you'd be kinky. Let me now before trying other things." Kiss?

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"What'll you do if I don't?"

Kiss. Forceful. His teeth nip Trevor's lip, not enough to draw blood but enough to feel it. 

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Fuck, this shouldn't be hot. "Dunno, dude. I am improvising."

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"Not an effective deterrent."

He swipes a finger through the remaining blood on his chin, looks at it, and makes a dissatisfied noise. Then he leans down, bites the tip of his tongue, and starts tracing a pattern on Trevor's chest with it, leaving a red trail.

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"What are you doing?"

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He completes the pattern before responding: "Improvising."

Suddenly, there's a force weighing down on every part of Trevor below the neck. He can breathe freely, but if he tries to move his arms or legs, it feels like they're trapped in concrete. 

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"Oh... I see."

Well, this is very hot, but it turns out that Trevor is curious about another thing. He pushes against that weight of concrete.

It turns out that, he can in fact push against it. With a very faint aura of green-gold that appears to create a second silhouette over Trevor, brief enough that one would need to have been paying attention to see it.

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Xan smirks. "Thought you might do that. Superstrength, huh? Looks like a TK field. Nice."

He hums thoughtfully. "You know, most TK fields are almost totally frictionless. A lot of people miss the implications of that, but you seem smart. Can you think of a way that we could use a lack of friction?"

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"I might, but I am not sure. Would you show me?"

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Xan shows him. (After a quick cleaning spell, both for its usual purpose and to make sure there's no sand anywhere near the main event.)

It turns out that, when a TK field is on its lowest setting, quite a lot of sensation can make it through.

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Trevor's TK field is very cooperative with this application. You could even say that Trevor is a natural.

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Xan is also very good at what he does. It doesn't take them long to finish.

"You definitely have to come back to New England," Xan decides. "You're hot and you actually know what you're doing in the sack. That's rare."

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"I try my best. And you make a very compelling argument," he plays with Xan's nipple, "How does one apply to your mutant school?"

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"Uh, I got... recommended," Xan hedges. "I think most kids just sort of show up, honestly, that's definitely an option. We should test your flying speed, see if you need a plane ticket."

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"I can't believe you didn't say I could fly. Can I fly?" Pause. He tries and levitates off the ground. "This is amazing." He slowly levitates further off the ground and frowns.

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"Yeah, if you're a TK-B then flight's included in the package. Not very fast, necessarily, but flight."

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"Awesome," he picks Xan up with easy and tries to lift them both up in the air. Yup, up they go. "Huh, this is not very fast, but I am not going to complain about any sort of flight."

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Xan lets out a sharp little breath, then a chuckle, when Trevor lifts him. "Yeah, it rocks. I can fly, but I have to give myself wings for it, and it's pretty hard when I'm not wearing my costume. And I'm not getting dressed right now."

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"Well, I shall be your wings for the moment." Trevor says dipping Xan mid-air, holding him easily with one arm, while extending the other to the sky like some sort of dramatic pose. Then he chuckles before landing. "Want to go for a swim? I want to test myself in the water."

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"I'd love to."

Swimming goes well. Xan's very impressive in the water.

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Trevor is impressed. Though, he is mostly focused on he is himself very impressive in the water. Also, on the water.

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And, when they've swam their fill, Xan gives Trevor his number.

"Did you get the Exemplar memory boost, or should I write it on your hand?" he asks.

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Trevor just shrugs at the first part of that question. "Are you going to write with blood magic or something?" He says, raising his hand.

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"Yeah."

Xan's eyes flash. With a sensation like being scratched just a little too hard by a fountain pen, a phone number scrawls itself on Trevor's hand in red ink.

"There you go."

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"Ouch," Trevor says without any hint of pain. "But cool. Hope to see you more of you soon."

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"Same here."

 

A few days later, Trevor's phone rings. It's Xan's number.

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"Hey, handsome. Missing me already?"

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"Yeah, Florida's boring, I'm going back to Whateley and abducting you with me. Have you told whoever you were gonna tell?"

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"I was all responsible and informed my foster parents that a powerful mutant seduced me and I was going to be taken by him to live somewhere else. But my foster father didn't choke on his beer as expected. They didn't really believe me until I started floating off the ground. No problems as far I see."

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"Man, some people are just no fun at all. Open your window for me?"

Should Trevor look out his window, he will notice Xan, hovering with a pair of enormous red wings.

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"Wow, I like your style." He says opening the window. His room is not a cupboard under the stairs, but it's very modest, but luckily very much his own.

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"You all packed? Or is this what your room looks like anyway?"

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"Packed. The joy of the Spartan life style is not having much to bring anyway." He says with a shrug.

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"Fair enough!"

Xan picks Trevor up without significant effort, bag and all, and hops out the window. His wings snap out to catch the air, and they're flying.

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Trevor wraps his arms around Xan's neck. "Oh, thank you for rescuing me from my terrible home situation."

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"Oh, yeah, must've sucked. Told them all about your mutant awakening and they didn't even get the shotgun."

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"I know! What is even the point of TK field if you are not harmlessly shot once in a while?"

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"Hah. I'd trade you my family's reaction, then, sounds like you'd have fun with it. Dad with a shotgun, full SWAT team called in, two months on the run knocking over liquor stores and fighting local hero teams."

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"Ouch, sorry, my dude. Also, what the fuck?"

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"Yeah, it turns out there's still assholes in California."

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"Ugh. How did you get to Whateley?"

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"Turns out some of those local heroes are, like, good at their jobs. I robbed a payday lender outside of Reno and the next thing I knew, Iridium Mystic bound me in magic-suppressing chains and read me the riot act. When she realized I was fourteen, she told me about Whateley, I told her to go fuck herself, and she said I could either go to Mutie High or go to maximum security. So I did the former. Way better deal than I expected."

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Trevor clamps down the annoying shoulder angel impulse to comment on that crime stint. "Well, despite school being called kid's jail, I can see why you took that deal."

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"Yep. Kid Jail strictly superior to Actual Jail. So, what's your story? You were in foster care, did something exciting happen to your folks?"

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"No idea! Someone found me asleep in a park when I was barely able to walk. The best they could get out of me was that I had just made a long car trip before the park and I was with 'aunt'. I don't remember it. I guess they could be mutants that got into shenanigans."

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"Huh. Sounds weird, at least. You ever feel like finding your biofamily, that's basically the easiest thing blood magic can possibly do."

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"Wow. Good thing you are already holding me. So many surprises. Is the school forced to hand me over in that case?"

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"Oh fuck no. In the considered opinion of Whateley Academy, kids don't have to do jackshit, especially not go back to their biological families. But I figured, hey, might be cool to know what the fuck, right?"

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"Aha, great. And of fucking course I would want to know. It might not lead to anything useful, but who knows? Maybe I am the son of Lord Paramout and he will be willing to spare a couple of millions as an allowance."

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"Oh, absolutely. Did you know his actual name is Fred? Well, Frederick, but - Fred Paramount. Seriously. The things you learn at Whateley."

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"Frederick." Trevor says in disbelief. "I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't that. Any famous super-heroes with embarassing names that I can now know? Being part of the mutant club and all."

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"Most of them have, like, secret identities to protect? But Paramount... I mean, when you're a dictator you tend to have less skin in the game, you know?"

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"Heh, I guess when you get to that point you can't ask for much confidentiality."

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"Well, you can demand it at gunpoint. But yeah."

They pass through a layer of cloud cover, and Xan seems to decide they're high enough that he doesn't have to care about being inconspicuous anymore. He incants a couple of words, and suddenly he's wearing a suit of lacquered red-and-black plate armor. His wingbeats strengthen precipitously, and suddenly they're going a lot faster.

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"Oh, stylish. Can anyone learn that trick?"

Now that they are going so fast and it's so cold it's pretty easy to see the aura Trevor demonstrated a few days ago. Almost like a tight suit of armor with a bull-head.

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"Basic quick-change spell, yeah. It's one of the few useful pieces of magic that baselines or non-WIZ mutants can handle. You won't have anything this cool, though," he says, rapping his breastplate. "This is custom."

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"Heh, it doesn't match my eyes," Trevor says fluttering the aforementioned eyes.

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"Hah. You'd want green and gold, I'm guessing."

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"Have to work with what nature gave me. Which is a great start, mind you. I am tempted to go with some kind of barbarian theme, with a heavy shield and hammer."

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"Eh, shields're more trouble than they're worth if your TK field's halfway decent. My friend Ariel uses a hammer, though."

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"Aww, but it's aesthetic," he mock-pouts. "And I will ask her for hammer using tips, assuming she has a TK field too and wants to offer."

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"One of the best around, by all accounts. She's a Goddamn tank."

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"Does this mean that she would be capable and willing to toss me around?"

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"I can do that. But yeah, Ariel could put you through walls."

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"A quality that I deeply appreciate. More so, that is less deadly to me and more realistic part of foreplay."

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"Yeah, you'll like Ariel. She's on my practice team and everything."

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"Practice team? Do you have students going around playing super-powered cops and robbers?"

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"Nah, it's for a class, Team Tactics, and for - I guess you'd call it an intramural sport? The Combat Sims. You get into teams and beat the living hell out of each other in virtual reality."

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"I guess that makes sense when your student body is not entirely compromised of bulletproff people. Though, I am definitely excited about whatever mutant-enhanced video games the school has to offer."

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"The video games are great. Devisors are fun that way."

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"I imagined that they wouldn't use 8-bit for Combat Sims. Granted, Devisors are also weird that way."

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"Yeah. The Sims are - full VR, audiovisual, tactile, everything. Jacks into your brain and makes it real."

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"Tactile you say?"

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"Horny little bastard, aren't you. Yeah, full sensorium - you could totally fuck in the Sims, but they wouldn't let you."

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"Of course I am horny!" He manages to make his aura more visible. "And, man, that's terrible. I guess I will have to stay with the real thing," he twirls a finger on Xan's torso, "speaking of which. Can you join the Mile High Club without an airplane? Just curious."

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"I can't under my own power - wings take too much attention. You, on the other hand, could do it all day. And probably hold me up while you do it."

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"Sounds fun, just need to get you secured between my legs with enough room for you to thrust your hips back and forth."

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"Or you could hold me up while you fuck me. I'm switchy enough for that to sound like a good time."

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"That sounds like an excellent time," he also takes this as a cue to kiss Xan.

He uses his field to switch holds, so now he is holding Xan up.

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Xan laughs at the switch, then incants his cleaning spell and his quick-change spell, leaving him naked in Trevor's arms. He reaches down and unzips Trevor's pants, then reaches in to see what kind of prizes he can extract.

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Well, there is at least one prize that he can find there. It's also warm and hard.

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Excellent. Xan will retrieve it and stroke for a while, then wiggle himself around in Trevor's grip until he can properly impale himself on it.

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Trevor is enthusiastic about this plan and more than willing to help. He keeps a firm grip on Xan so he can find the best pace for high-altitude impaling.